Mowing, felling, and mulching operations are often performed with land clearing devices such as brush cutters or lawn mowers. Land clearing devices may be standalone units or they may be attachments adapted to combine with tractors, skid-steers, or other suitable machines. Land clearing devices typically include one or more rotating blades adapted to cut grass, shrubs, small trees, and other types of brush. The blades may be powered by any suitable means, including gasoline and hydraulic engines. Land clearing devices typically have paneling over the top surface of the blades to help prevent injuries that may be caused by the spinning blades. Some land clearing devices have guards adapted to move from a closed position to an open position which exposes the blade during certain cutting operations. Existing movable guards require the operator to raise the land clearing device off of the ground then lower the device vertically against a tree or other object in order to open the guard and expose the blades. This and other drawbacks in the prior art are overcome by the present invention described below.